Doomed Planet

#002: Dick Balch was making TV commercials that were both crass and dangerously avant-garde long before punk rock types took up the same aesthetic. Balch gained fame and a small fortune starring in spots for his Federal Way Chevrolet dealership – he played a cackling maniac who smashed cars with a sledgehammer. Balch was destroying the things that made him his living - while appearing severely wasted - eons before Seattle grunge band Nirvana did the same thing on Saturday Night Live. Balch was a wild man.

Also: Rusty the Media Watchdog examines Motor Trend magazine, R.I.P. Ken Shapiro of Groove Tube fame.

Generoso "Gene" Pope Jr. bought the New York Enquirer, turned it into a lurid tabloid of smut, changed the name to National Enquirer, bribed supermarket executives with hookers to get it on the shelves, then moved to Florida in order to evade the unions. Along the way he smoked three packs a day, and when he died the timing was perfect for his heirs, who made millions. This is his story.

Also: The death of glossy city magazines and an interview with a 13-year-old Marxist skateboarder. R.I.P. Mama Enza.